


Runner, Runner, Hunter, Home

by Shearmouth



Series: Whumptober 2019 [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Theo Raeken, I threw this thing together and it's messy please be nice, Thiam, whumptober2019, your girl is a senior in college and this is the best she can do right now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 21:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21022439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shearmouth/pseuds/Shearmouth
Summary: Whumptober Days 8-13: Stab Wound, Shackled, Unconscious, Stitches, "Don't Move", AdrenalineSomeone had taken Theo four days ago. Liam hadn’t slept since then. And now his boyfriend was somewhere in front of him, somewhere close by, and the fear and pain in the roar he had sounded sent Liam’s vision red at the edges.





	Runner, Runner, Hunter, Home

They were close. Liam could feel it.

He paused, leaning against a tree, and smelled the air. The cold night burned in his nostrils, but the scents there allowed him to ignore the pain– hunters and blood.

And Theo.

Beside him, Scott came to a stop and paused. His eyes glowed crimson in the dark, and Liam could sense the violent intent radiating off him. Anger and protectiveness sang through the air between them.

“Liam?” Scott asked lowly.

“We’ve gotta be close.” Liam peered through the trees, looking for anything unusual. Anything that should not be there.

“I think we are,” Scott replied. “I can feel him. No more than half a mile.”

Right. Scott’s beta radar. It was a new thing– Scott had really only developed it in the last few months, and Liam had never told Scott how much it weirded him out.

Something crashed through the woods ahead of them. A shout broke through the trees.

As one, Liam and Scott flattened themselves to the leaf litter. A low growl rippled through Liam’s chest.

And then a howl tore into him.

Liam couldn’t hold back the gasp as the desperate sound reverberated through the trees. A werewolf’s cry– no, not quite.

He’d only heard Theo roar once before, but there was no mistaking that sound.

Liam took off running, ignoring Scott’s cry to wait, Liam, it’s not safe.

Liam didn’t care. A snarl ripped past his teeth as he felt the shift take over him.

Someone had taken Theo four days ago. Liam hadn’t slept since then. And now his boyfriend was somewhere in front of him, somewhere close by, and the fear and pain in the roar he had sounded sent Liam’s vision red at the edges.

A dense thicket of trees shook in front of him. Liam skidded to a stop, claws out. He snarled in challenge.

With a gasp and a stumble, Theo emerged from the trees. He caught sight of Liam and stopped dead.

Liam’s voice caught in his throat. He had seen Theo hurt before. He had seen him on the edge of death. But he had never seen all that combined with the wild fear that had broken Theo’s face open. He looked as he had when he returned from hell.

Theo’s fangs were out and his eyes were flared, but every line of him wrote pain. Silver shackles hung from both ankles and his left wrist. His face was a bloody mess. His feet were bare and his shirt was gone, and old and fresh cuts and burns marred all visible skin. Nausea closed up Liam’s throat.

“Liam?” Theo gasped, and that broke Liam’s stupor. He stumbled forward and managed to catch Theo as his knees buckled.

“Theo, what– what the fuck is–“ Liam could feel blood under his hands as he lowered Theo to his knees. They must have had him electrified to stall his healing. “Theo–“

“We– gotta go–“ Theo looked over his shoulder. “They’re coming.”

“Liam.” Liam looked up to find Scott standing over him. “Let me have him.”

“Sorry, Theo,” Liam whispered. He hooked his arms under Theo’s and hauled him up. Theo groaned in pain.

“Theo, you need to get on my back,” Scott said.

He crouched. Theo stumbled over and draped himself awkwardly over Scott’s back. Liam helped him fix his arms around Scott’s neck, and Scott looped his arms around Theo’s knees. He stood, swaying for a moment under Theo’s weight, then started to run through the trees. Liam followed.

“Where’s Derek and Malia?” Liam gasped.

“Closing in,” Scott said. “They would’ve heard his howl.”

Sure enough, a dark blur appeared in Liam’s periphery. Derek and Malia came charging down the hillside and took up their flanks without a word.

Somehow, they managed to make it out of the woods without the hunters catching up. Derek’s truck came into view.

They had done this too many times by now. Too many times of one of them disappearing, being found, being hurt. Too many times of Derek leaping into the truck and starting it as Malia stood guard, and Scott and Liam climbing into the bed with Theo coughing up blood between them.

He was so tired of this. So tired to his bones of his pack getting hurt.

Theo cried out as Liam and Scott lowered him onto his back. He hunched up reflexively.

“Theo, what…?” Liam ran his hand down his boyfriend’s back.

And stopped dead when his hand met something metal.

“He’s been stabbed,” Liam said, voice flat with shock. “The blade– it’s still in him.”

Scott swore violently and turned Theo so he was lying on his side, against Scott’s knees.

The truck started rolling, kicking up dirt with a growl, just as a throng of hunters broke from the trees. One shouted and pointed, raising his gun.

“Down!” yelled Scott.

Derek gunned it, and the sharp report of bullets cracked the air. Liam and Scott flattened themselves into the truck bed. Liam curled himself over Theo, snarling in rage and fear.

Glass shattered as a round found Derek’s taillight.

“They’re going for the tires!” Liam yelled.

Out of the corner of his eye, Liam saw Malia half-lean out of the window and bring one of Argent’s massive assault rifles to bear. She stared firing, eyes glowing a ferocious blue.

The forest closed around them, and Liam felt the truck jolt as they joined the main road. The shouts and shots of the hunters faded into the trees as Derek picked up speed. Malia entered the cab.

Liam leaned close to Theo, wrapping his hand around his cheek and drawing out as much pain as he could take. “Hang in there, Theo,” he murmured. “We’re going to the safe house. You’re going to be fine.”

Theo didn’t reply, but he reached up and found Liam’s fingers with his own.

By the time they reached the safehouse, a nondescript apartment building in one of the rougher parts of Seattle, Theo was unconscious. Liam saw with a surge of fear that he didn’t seem to be healing, either. Derek gathered him into his arms, and they all hurried inside.

Malia must have called ahead to warn Stiles, Lydia and Alec, because when they got inside the side room they used for spellwork and medical procedures was prepped. The air was fragrant with reishi and yarrow.

Derek carried Theo into the side room and laid him on his side on the table. A faint shudder was running through Theo’s frame.

“I smell silver,” Derek hissed. “Not just the shackles.”

“There’s a knife blade in his lower back,” Scott replied. “I think that’s it. That would explain why he’s not healing, either.”

“Why the hell didn’t he take it out when he escaped?” Malia growled, from where she was pulling pain through Theo’s ankle.

“I don’t think he realized it was there,” Liam said. “I’ve seen him do this before– when he gets hurt, if, if his adrenaline’s up, he just doesn’t feel it until after.” He swallowed hard.

“Right, well, that needs to come out, now,” Derek said flatly. “Liam, Malia, hold him still.”

“Derek, wait,” Scott said, holding out an arm. He was leaning close to the wound, alpha eyes flared on. “I think it’s barbed.”

_Oh, shit. _

Derek blew out a harsh breath. “Great. Well, this was going to hurt, but now it’s going to be agony.”

“I’ll do it,” Scott said. “You three hold him down and try to take as much of his pain as you can.”

They rolled Theo over carefully. Now under the light fully, Liam could see the wound in detail– where the knife handle must have snapped off the blade, and how the skin around the injury was turning a toxic black. He braced Theo’s hips against the table, as Malia took his lower legs and Derek pinned his torso. Scott stood next to Liam, claws unsheathed.

“Okay, Theo,” Scott muttered. “I don’t think you can hear me- I _hope _you can’t hear me, but if you can, don’t move. This is going to hurt like a bitch.”

And he lowered his hand and began to cut around the end of the knife.

Immediately Theo went rigid under Liam’s hands. A low, keening whine escaped him, and as Liam watched, the claws on his hands grew and he buried them in the edge of the pad on which he lay. The pain flowing into Liam’s hands tripled, and he gasped, bracing himself against the edge of the table.

“That’s it, Theo,” Scott murmured, that low tone of alpha intent soothing Liam secondhand. “Almost there.” Scott pulled his hand back. It gleamed with black fluid and blood, and Liam swallowed again.

“Okay,” Scott said. “I’m going to take the blade out. Hold him.”

Scott fixed his hand around the broken end and began to pull.

Theo began to shake and thrash under Liam’s hands. They all pushed down harder, and Scott’s hands moved faster.

An agonized cry tore from Theo’s mouth. Liam bit down on his tongue to keep from whimpering.

Scott raised his hand. His clawed fingers were wrapped around the tang of a five-inch long silver knife. The end bore a vicious barb. Scott threw it onto the surgical tray with a snarl.

Theo settled under Liam’s hands. A long, shuddering breath escaped him, and his pain began to fade. The other, shallower wounds on his torso began to slowly seal.

Scott let out a lungful of stress, leaning hard against the table. “Derek?”

Derek released Theo’s shoulders, but left his hand on his neck to keep pulling pain. “He should be fine now. He’s healing. We should suture the stab wound, though. Otherwise it’ll take the better part of a day to close.”

Malia retrieved the suture kit and handed it to Derek. Then she produced a pair of slender bolt cutters and went to work removing the shackles from Theo’s ankles. Derek prepped a needle while Scott cleaned off the worst of the blood and disinfected the wound.

Liam left for a moment to down half a banana and a cup of water. Pain-draining could wipe you out. Then he drew up a chair next to Theo’s head and settled in, resting his hands on his arm and steadily drawing out pain as Scott and Derek stitched the wound closed. Liam let his head rest on the side of the table, utterly exhausted. 

At length, he felt a familiar gaze on him. He lifted his head to find Theo’s eyes hooded open, looking bleary but relaxed.

“Hey,” Liam murmured. He let the relief show in his voice.

“Hey,” Theo said hoarsely. “What’d I miss?”

Liam kissed his cheek gently. “I’ll tell you all about it. But for now, I want you to sleep.”

“You too,” Theo whispered. “Come here.”

And so Liam drew close and curled, resting his head and arms on the edge of the table and nuzzling into the space where Theo’s neck met his shoulder. Theo sighed next to him, pressing his head close to Liam’s.

“Sleep, guys,” Scott murmured above them. “We got this.”

All too happy to oblige, Liam drifted off beside Theo, leaving his hand curled around his wrist.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic feels like a hot mess, but it's about the best I can do right now, because COLLEGE EATS ALL MY WRITING TIME AUGH.   
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you have time. :)


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